Refrigerating apparatus



May 12, 1931. J. cs. KING REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed July 31, 1928Patented May 12, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JESSE G. KING, OFDAYTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO FRIGIDAIRE CORPORATION, OF DAYTON, OHIO, ACORPORATION OF DELAWARE nn'rmennarme APPARATUS Application filed July31,

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of the type disclosedin my application Serial No- 250,407, filed January 30, 1928. I

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved form ofrefrigerant container, particularly adapted to be used as a condenser,which is simple and economical to construct, and which is rugged andsubstantial when constructed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method ofassemblin such containers which reduces the cost an provides a moredependable container.

.Still another object is to provide an improved joint between thediiferent elements or parts of such containers.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom 20 the following description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present inventionis clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a refrigeratingcondenser constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the condenser; Fig. 3 is an enlar ed sectionalview of a so portion of the con enser, showing details of a conduitconnection; and

Fig. 4 is a view partly in plan, and partly in section (on the line 4--4of Fig. 3) of the connection shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 shows a container for refrigerant, which serves both as acondenser for gaseous refrigerant and a storage eservoir for thecondensed liquid. In this figure, desig-' nates a thin walled sheetmetal cylinder which is closed at each end by a head 41 to form acontainer for refrigerant which is delivered thereto through a conduitconnection 42. The surface of the cylinder is helically corrugated by.rolling or otherwise suitably forming a helical groove 43 which extendssubstantially from one end of the cylinder to the other. Inside of thecorrugated cylinder is placed, a second cylinder 45 which is open at oneend 46 and is closed at the other end by a plate 47. The space 1928.Serial No. 296,475.

between the plate 47 and the adjacent head 41 forms an inlet chamber 48for the gaseous refrigerant and the space within the cylinder 45 forms areservoir 49 for liguid re frigerant. The cylinder 45 fits against thebottom of the helical corrugations and thus forms with the corrugatedcylinder a helical passage 50 which leads from the inlet chamber to thereservoir 49 and directs the incoming gaseous refrigerant in a lengthytortuous path about the condenser before it can reach the reservoir. Athird shell is placed outside the corrugated shell 40, the space betweenthe corrugations 43 and the shell 55 forming a passage 58 thru whichwater is circulated for condensing the gaseous refrigerant in thepassage 50. An inlet and an outlet for the condensing water are providedby a connection 59 secured to the shell 55 and communicating with oneend of the passage 58, and by a similar connection 59w at the oppositeend of the groove. Liquid refrigerant is withdrawn from the bottom ofthe reservoir 49 by means of a pipe 52 leading to a boss forming aconnector 54 for an exterior conduit.

The structure above described is assembled in the following manner. Thewall of the inner shell 40 is provided near one end with a hexagonalopening 60, and the outer shell 55 is provided with a somewhat largeropening 61, of any desired shape, in a position corresponding to theopening 60. The shells are assembled with their openings 60 and 61 inalignment, and the boss or connector 54, which has a hexagonal ortion 63to fit the opening 60, is inserted t rough both openings. The opening 61is large enough to provide considerable clearance between its edge andthe boss 54, for reasons to be explained below. The connector is thenpeened over the edge of the hexagonal opening to form the flange 64,which flange is then soldered to the inner surface of the inner shell bymeans of solder 65 having a high melting point, for example a solderconsisting of 11 parts by weight of silver, 6.5 parts of copper, and twoparts of zinc, which melts atabout 983 C. The outer shell 55 may at thesame time be soldered to the inner shell about the opening 61 by meansof the same solder. The connector now forms a gas-tight connection withthe refrigerant chamber. j

The-innermost shell 45 is then placed within the other shells, the pipe52 attached, and thereafter the shells are deformed, as by spinning toprovide the grooves which afford shoulders for the end plates 41. Theend plates are placed in position, after which the ends of the shellsare spun over the plates to hold the plates in position. The plates arethen soldered to the shells by means of a solder having a melting pointbelow the melting point of the solder 65, and even below its softeningpoint. A suitable solder for this purpose is a composition of 1 part oflead and 1 part of tin, which melts at about 205 C. The shell 55 forms awatertight joint with the shell 40 for the water passage 58. Since theopening 61 is larger than the connector, the jointbetween the shellswill be remote from and independent of the connector and its joint withthe inner shell. Thus if either of the joints should fail or leak,either water or refrigerant will merely escape into the atmosphere, andneither can become mixed with the other in the refrigerating system.

The reason for using a liigh melting point solder for the connector 54and a low melting point solder for the end plates is that the end platesare soldered after the connector, and it has been found to be verydiflicult and expensive to solder all joints with the same solderwithout either melting or weakening the connector joint during thesubsequent heating for the end plate joint. Furthermore it has beenfound that in spinning the grooves 70 in the shells and in spinning theends of the shells over'the end plates, there is a tendency for theshells to creep past each other. Even after the right hand end plate 41is assembled, there may be enough elasticity in the corrugated shell 40to allow its left hand end to creep during the spinning at that end. Ifthe shells are soldered together by low melting point solder before thespinning operation, or if the hole 61 does not clear the connector 54,the creeping will cause breaking or weakening of either the jointbetween the shells or between the shell and connector. It has been foundthat if the two shells are soldered together about the opening 61 withsilver solder as above mentioned, the joint is strong enough to preventcreeping in ordinary cases.

However, if it is found that the shells creep with silver solderedjoints, this can be avoided by a modification of my process abovedescribed. In this modification, the shell 55 is not soldered to theshell 40 about the opening 61 at the time the connector is soldered inplace, but is left free. The hole 61 is large enough to allow creepingof the shells during subsequent spinning without contacting with theconnector. Consequently the creeping does no harm, and after thecontainer is otherwise completely assembled, the shell 40 and the shell55 are soldered together with the low meltingpoint solder. This iseasily accomplished without in any way disturbing the solderedconnection between the connector 54 and the shell 40.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerant container comprising in combination a pair of sheetsforming a double wall, and a boss secured to one sheet and passingthrough an opening in the other sheet, the opening bein larger than theboss to permit relative isplacement of the sheets in the direction oftheir surfaces.

2. A refrigerant container comprising in combination a pair of sheetsforming a double wall, and a boss secured to one sheet and passingthrough an opening in the other sheet, the opening being larger than theboss and said sheets being secured together at said opening to form ajoint between said sheets remote from the boss.

3. A refrigerant container comprising in combination a pair of co-axialshells forming a double wall, a boss secured to one shell and passingthrough an opening in the other shell, and an end plate secured to theshells, said shells being deformed to hold said plate in position, andsaid openin being larger than said boss to permit relative displacementof the shells during deformation without disturbing the boss.

4. A container comprising in combination a shell, a conduit connectionsecured to the shell adjacent one end thereof with solder of highmelting point, and a plate secured to the end of the shell with solderof low melting point.

5. A container comprising in combination, a pair of co-axial shells eachhaving an opemng in its wall, a conduit connection passing through saidopenings and being soldered with solder of high' melting point to theinner shell about its opening, and an end plate soldered to the innershell with solder of low melting point.

6. A container comprising in combination,

a pair of co-axial shells each having an opening in its wall, saidopenings bein in alignment, and the opening in one s ell being largerthan the opening in the other shell, a conduit connection passingthrough said openings and soldered with solder of high melting point tothe inner shell about its opening, the shells being soldered togetherabout the larger ogemng with solder of hlfh melting dere to said s e inpoint.

oint, an an end late solw1th solder of ow meltn testimony whereof Ihereto aflix my signature.

JESSE G. KING.

